{"id":19500,"date":"2026-04-25T15:07:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T01:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/?p=19500"},"modified":"2026-04-25T15:08:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T01:08:06","slug":"2026-lahaina-educator-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ja\/2026-lahaina-educator-housing\/","title":{"rendered":"HIDOE opens 47-unit housing project on Maui to support Lahaina educators"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAHAINA \u2013 The Hawai\u02bbi State Department of Education today marked the opening of its Lahaina educator workforce housing development, a $20 million project designed to support teacher retention and strengthen public education on Maui.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Built by Maui-based developer Dowling Co., the Department\u2019s project includes 47 rental units offered at affordable rates, with educators and staff beginning to move in last month. The project addresses ongoing housing challenges that have made it difficult to recruit and retain educators, particularly on neighbor islands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We’re taking a real step toward supporting our workforce and strengthening our schools here on Maui. This project also reflects what\u2019s possible when we move with urgency and purpose \u2014 breaking ground in May of last year and already welcoming educators into their new homes last month,\u201d Superintendent Keith Hayashi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI also want to extend a sincere mahalo to Governor Josh Green for his strong support of workforce housing and for helping make this project possible through $9 million in funding,” Hayashi added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of Saturday\u2019s opening event, cultural practitioner Wilmont Kahaiali\u2018i performed a blessing of the space, residents and structures. Officials in attendance included Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen, West Maui Sen. Angus McKelvey and Rep. Elle Cochran, along with tenants and community members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department also announced the official name of the development, Ke \u02bbAla Punia, gifted by Lahainaluna High School kumu Eva Palakiko. The name reflects a vision for the project that extends beyond housing. Ke \u02bbAla Punia, meaning \u201cpermeating fragrance,\u201d symbolizes the idea that educators nurture students, families and the broader community, with their knowledge and care spreading outward like a fragrance that fills and uplifts Lahaina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The development comes at a critical time for the Lahaina community as it continues to rebuild following the 2023 wildfires. By providing stable housing for educators, the project helps ensure continuity for students and supports the long-term resilience of schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we stood here last year, we had a shared commitment that we would support our educators and help stabilize Lahaina. That\u2019s exactly what this project is doing today,\u201d Mayor Bissen said. \u201cAffordabiity really is the foundation of everything for people to be able to survive here in our community. \u2026 This project helps us to restore that balance by providing the workforce housing that will keep our educators and our local families here within Lahaina.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rental rates at Ke \u02bbAla Punia start at $1,469 per month for a one-bedroom unit and $1,733 for a two-bedroom unit, including water, sewer and trash. Additional subsidies are available for eligible employees to ensure they pay no more than 30% of household income toward rent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The approximately 5-acre site sits above Princess N\u0101hi\u02bbena\u02bbena Elementary and below Lahainaluna High.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the new residents at Ke \u02bbAla Punia is Nathan Pallett, a Lahainaluna alumnus and agriculture teacher at the high school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the only place that I can stay. Post-fire, a one-bedroom unit is like $2,000 a month. This makes it much more affordable,\u201d Pallett said. \u201cAnd the commute to work is pretty convenient.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"workforce<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"workforce<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"workforce<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LAHAINA \u2013 The Hawai\u02bbi State Department of Education today marked the opening of its Lahaina educator workforce housing development, a $20 million project designed to support teacher retention and strengthen public education on Maui. Built by Maui-based developer Dowling Co., the Department\u2019s project includes 47 rental units offered at affordable rates, with educators and staff beginning to move in last month. The project addresses ongoing housing challenges that have made it difficult to recruit and retain educators, particularly on neighbor islands. “We’re taking a real step toward supporting our workforce and strengthening our schools here on Maui. This project also reflects what\u2019s possible when we move with urgency and purpose […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":19502,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"856,888,893,1022,1619,1622","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","wp_popup_display_lightbox":0,"wp_popup_suppress":"","wp_popup_trigger":"","wp_popup_trigger_amount":0,"wp_popup_disable_on_mobile":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":21,"label":"News"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026-lahaina-maui-educator-housing-02-1024x683.jpg",1024,683,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Sara Miyazono","author_link":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ja\/author\/sara-miyazonok12-hi-us\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":21,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":21,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":312,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":21,"category_count":312,"category_description":"","cat_name":"News","category_nicename":"news","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-04 03:27:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"post_status","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19500"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19505,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19500\/revisions\/19505"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}